Local Writer has Taste for Adventure

By
C&G Staff Writer

Carole Herdegen, a Bloomfield Hills resident, has been to some of the world's most exotic locations, and because of her drive to "see it all," gets paid to write about and photograph her experiences.

The walls of her home office are covered with photos of monks from Bhutan, a Mongolian nomad, and a Dyak woman from Borneo.

"I started out as a photographer and learned that you can't sell a picture without telling the story about it too, so I started writing as well," said Herdegen. "About a year ago, I learned that the Web site www.travelsite.com was looking for a travel magazine to go with their site and since I was looking for a place to showcase my photographs and writing, it was a perfect fit."

Herdegen posts pieces on her travels, offers tips on good family vacation spots in both Michigan and the United States, and a bit of travel trivia in TravelQuest with Carole Herdegen.

Herdegen is a member of the National Association of Travel Journalists and the environmental group Earthwatch.

She has volunteered for three Earthwatch projects, including a trip to New Zealand to study dolphins and whales, a trip to Western Australia to rehabilitate an almost extinct species of marsupials, and a trip to Mongolia, where she crossed the Gobi Desert on camelback to help study the desert's water tables.

She is also a travel consultant on a nationally syndicated radio program, and has earned two silver medals in cycling at the Michigan Senior Olympics.

"Carole is probably the most traveled female adventurist in Michigan," said husband Richard Herdegen. "She has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for adventure and challenge as well as an insatiable curiosity and desire to learn everything about other culture and other people."

Herdegen said her next adventure will be to Timbuktu or Antarctica.

"Timbuktu just sounds so exotic and interesting," said Herdegen.

Herdegen is the U.S. representative for Bhutan, in the Himalayas, and can take up to seven people at a time on tours.

"It is like traveling back to the Middle Ages," she said.

One of her recent adventures included a trip to Churchill, Manitoba, where she photographed Polar Bears. Those photos will be showcased at the Detroit Zoo this spring.

Herdegen has also learned to repair and re-create old photographs and take family portraits and real estate photography.

For information on Herdegen's portrait and real estate photography or her trips to Bhutan, call (248) 540-7228.

Learn more about Herdegen's travels at www.travelsite.com.